Retherford, Nickal Up For Hodge Trophy
Two Penn State wrestlers were nominated for the Daniel Hodge Trophy, the sport’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Reigning Hodge winner Zain Retherford and teammate Bo Nickal were two of the four wrestlers on the ballot, along with South Dakota State’s Seth Gross and Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia.
Retherford capped off his career Saturday with his third national title and on a 94-match winning streak. He was 31-0 with 17 falls and five technical falls this season.
Last year, he beat teammate Jason Nolf, Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder, and Missouri’s J’Den Cox in a landslide after going 28-0 with 17 falls.
Retherford led the field in falls and bonus-point percentage on both ballots.
Nickal won his second-straight national title at 184 lbs., going 31-0 with 16 falls this season. The Allen, TX, native isn’t endorsing himself on social media, though.
If anyone needs help deciding who to vote for in the Hodge race here you go pic.twitter.com/Y6W2ZWocCh
— Bo Nickal (@NoBickal) March 19, 2018
You can place your vote here until Friday. The winner will be announced March 27.
The Hodge Trophy is named after Dan Hodge, one of the sport’s original superstars who was undefeated — pining 36 of his 46 collegiate opponents — en route to three national titles at Oklahoma. Every year, it is awarded to the most dominant wrestler in college, based on various weighted criteria such as record, number of pins, and sportsmanship.
Before Retherford, the only other Nittany Lions to win the award were David Taylor, who did so in 2012 and 2014, and Kerry McCoy, the 1997 recipient. Head coach Cael Sanderson was a three-time winner from 2000-2002 while competing for Iowa State.
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